• Oceans

    • Oceans cover 71 percent of the planet and are home to 80 percent of all life on Earth. But they are also fragile eco-systems threatened by massive over-fishing and pollution.

    • Oceans

  • Plastic wasted dumped in oceas

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  • tons
  • globally, this year

    • We are polluting our oceans

    At least 10 percent of the 100 million tons of plastic we use every year end up in the oceans. This is equivalent to the weight of 700 billion plastic bottles. Put on top of each other these bottles would reach further than the sun. But they are not going to the sun. They are in our oceans and will stay there.

    With scary consequences

    Ocean currents have created several gigantic “plastic soups” around the world. No-one knows the size of these, but they could cover up to 16 million km2, or the combined size of Europe, India and Mexico!

    It could go completely wrong

    The plastic soup has been growing 10 times in size every decade since the 1950s. If nothing is done now, this problem will spin completely out of control.

    The chemicals build up

    Fish and shellfish contain toxic chemicals at concentrations as high as nine million times (!) those found in the water in which they swim.

    What can we do?

    Notice all the plastic around you, the plastic bags you use, and change to biodegradable alternatives. They exist! And take a look at this nine minute video of the plastic soup in the Pacific Ocean.

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Content

  • OK, I get it. Bad things are going on
  • Now what?